The thread's door opened with a rage of snow. A gust of wind charged down the small fire, and the flames shrieked in abomination. Out, out! Close the door, shake the snow off, stomp your boots, come make rivulets of icy water on the tiles by the fireplace.

But hobbits wear no boots, and all Ro could do was shake her hair free of the ice droplets that had somehow gotten past the protection of her hood.

The Christmas tree shone with good light and friends were gathered around it. Ro reached into her bag to find the ornament, but the more she fumbled, the more it wasn't there.

With the sharp sting of worry in hear heart, she hurried over to a table in the corner, where she began to empty her bag in search for the ornament. It was such a small and unimportant thing, until it was lost...

That tree! That tree! That won'drous tree!
That gleams with Christmas finery.
Each ornament placed on each bough,
makes memories to live as now.
So from my cloak, a crystal lark,
is hung, and though it now is dark,
when light bursts through as light should do,
the tree shall gleam with hue on hue.
For at this time of song and light
may this small gift make joy be bright.

Weary carolers trudge up to the front door and tap on the glass. An elf, a beorning, three humans, a maia, an entwife, five hobbits, and a pub cluster 'round, clutching candles and song books in mittened hands. They sing a beautiful rendition of Silent Night, in Sindarin, then move on down the road.

Left behind on the doorstep is a large jug of hot cocoa for the merrymakers inside.

Good job Rohy, on the bump. Like Dan was saying in Talk, I've been thinking a lot about Hue and his family. Every night when they say their prayers, I have my kids pray for them. They really don't know who they're praying for, but they do it anyway. They just know they're sad, and need blessings.

First of all my thoughts and prayers are with Erinhue and his family...

My ornament is a crystal heart resting in a pair of silver hands as if being presented.... I had such an ornament as a child... it was given me by my great-grandparents the christmas before my great-grandmother died... I was 10 years old.... my great-grandfather was in a wheel chair and I would go over with my mother every Saturday... I would sit with grampa while mom took gramma shopping and I would help in other ways... they kept offering me money and I wouldn't take it.... Gramma told me that the ornament was the offering of their heart to me for all the times I gave of my heart to them... I was the only great-grandchild that got anything... I was the only one who went over there... it was very special

I would like to present it here as an offering of my love to my family on TORC...

Like so many other have proclaimed, My thoughts come now and again to our dear Erinhue.

The ornament I offer this year is simple and while I don't have one in these colors, I have made several like these. It is a god's eye. In the center, black yarn wraps around in the two sticks, before changing to a rich deep blue color. A crimson red follows next, then a brilliant yellow, and a mossy green runs along the outside edge. In the center is a small pentacle

Happy holidays to all. If your wish cannot come true, at least may you be greeted ever with peace and good fortune.

Heathe enters and carefully removes a scrap of rolled up velvet from her herb bag. With trembling fingers, she unwraps a crystal angel."May god bless you all this Christmas season, and send his angels to guard and guide you through all your days."
With that, sha hangs it on a branch and quietly leaves.

Shann wanders in, bowed inder a weight of burdens. From a bag, she pulls out what appears to be a glass ball full of a glittering liquid, though the glass is indestructable, and the liquid more than it appears.

"A year of experience, of hopes, fears, wonder, joy and tears. Unto thee I give the gift of the reminder of going into the world on one's own. The wonder of a world foreign from the one into which we were born. I give unto you the most resilient thing I can: My heart. In this are housed the most fragile things ever, which are so easily lost or broken. My memories, my emotions. Take them, and learn from them. This is my exchange. May you remember what has been, and what will be. The world changes, as we change. People come and go, but what really matters is that we never forget them, and that we never forget who we are; who we want to be."

Shann strings the ball onto a piece of spiderweb silk, and tosses it into the air, where it drifts to its resting place somewhere near the top of the tree, looking lost and lonely, yet full of a strong and hopeful light.

"Blessed be." She mutters, and then straightens her burdens and wanders out.

Lith enters and looks for an appropriate spot for her ornament, a glass teardrop with a dolphin dancing around it.She espies the wolf ornament she'd hung sometime ago (pg 1) and chooses a place nearby a little below eye level.

Both of these ornaments have new meaning in light of what's been happening.

A tall dark elf, wrapped in black robes and carrying a small black box makes his way through the crowd and approaches the tree. With a pleasent look upon his face he opens the small box and gently pulls out a small black orb. The orb is filled with shadow sifting around inside the hardly visible glass casing. Morieru hangs the ornament just below eye level in the middle of the tree. He then gently spins the orb and the shadow fades, bringing a wondrous blue glow from the orb.

"May this ornament be a reminder that no matter how dark the shadow may be, light can always be found."

A Noldorin elf, clad in the armour of the army of Himring, enters the hall and takes off the helmet that covers half of the face. Then, it is revealed that she is a lady. From a bag she's bearing, she takes a skilful knotwork of silver thread, with a single white gem in the middle. She hangs it on a branch close to a candle, so that the light makes the jewel sparkle.

"May this jewel bring a glimpse of the light of Valinor to the midwinter darkness, and lift the spirits of those who are going through difficult times in their lives."

She bows, puts on her helmet again, and exits. Soon, the sound of hooves can be heard to fade away.

The tall ranger, Lith, pushes another gently forward to place both of their ornaments on the great pine this year.
The visitor looks uncertainly up at the boughs that are just barely within her reach, and picks one with a divided tip.
On one side went a small glass piece, colored with red, yellow, and blue like the memory of flowers from a young garden, framed in a dark wood.
On the other went a hand-quilted bulb of red, green, and gold with a stitched pieces of mistletoe at it's apices.
Ashley returns to stand with Lith, who would be taking her home as soon as they were done studying.

A weary bard enters the room where the Christmas tree stood. The man walked slowly, shortening his long stride to match that of the young boy walking beside him. The child held a small gold box.

When the pair reached the tree the boy handed the box to his father who hesitated a moment and then lifted the lid on the box. Inside was a Christmas ornament, a treasure from the past, a tiny crystal carousel with three minature painted ponies and a little golden bell hanging in the very center.

The man gently removed the ornament from the padded box. The little boy reached up and took the twinkling bit of blown glass with as much reverant care as 7 year old hands could manage. He held onto it with both hands and waited for his father to lift him up. When he was high enough the child reached out and hung the crystal memory on the TORC Christmas tree.

When his father lowered him to the ground the two stood silently gazing at the tree and the treasure they had just hung on its branches. Call it a wish or a prayer though it might have been just a sudden gust but something moved the golden bell and it began to tinkle.

The sound rode the breeze as laughter, a gentle sound longingly remembered although no longer heard. The sound was as full and vibrant as it was brief, a fleeting trip backward in time, to fleetingly over. The sound brought a smile to the boys face as it brought a tear to his father's eye. Too quickly the breeze and the laughter faded and wafted away to silence. The boy slipped his small hand into his father's larger one and received the reassuring squeeze he sought. A moment longer they stood there still in half hope that the breeze, and the sound might somehow even momentarily, return. It did not. The man squeezed the boy's small hand within his own and received the reassurance he sought. Hand in hand the two turned away from the tree and walked out of the room. The sweet sound of the laughter still echoed in their hearts, as it always would.

The door opens and a lithe figure comes into the room. Moving slowly towards the tree. She stands there a moment and then pulls a small wrapped object from her pocket. Unwrapping with great care she reveals a small star. Its luminous surface catching the light and making a rainbow of the many colors in the room. A teardrop of moonstone hanging beneath, she reaches out to hang the star from a branch near the middle of the tree. With tender care she leaves it there and withdraws her delicate hand and looks with great love at the ornament. After looking at the delicate star for a moment longer she turns and moves out of the room leaving it as she found it.

Spring come quickly!!~*Sister of the Twilight*~~*Daughter of the Moon*~

A gust of wind skirls powdery new snow across the worn wooden floor as the door swings open again. A huge gray wrag shoulders through the opening, a small bedragragled looking goblin perched high on it's shaggy shoulders. Behind it two smaller wargs crouch nervously in the doorway. Ûlugz urges the Grey-one towards the tree and carefully unwraps a surprisingly delicate wooden carving of a female wolf with two cubs between her paws.
"For what has passed away, and for what is left behind. Old grief and new hope gather here, where we tell our stories and our verse, our dreams and our songs. And most of all our friendship shared in this place of warmth and good-will." The little orc intoned in her gravelly voice. Strange words indeed from a strange, shy and (lately) rarely seen creature.